Maria Popova is the curious mind that powers Brain Pickings, a treasure trove of the most interesting content the web has to offer. The site combines images, videos, and thoughtful posts on art, science, technology, politics, books, history, ecology, or as Maria says, “you-name-itology.”

Maria believes that to improve creativity, you need to expose your brain to new and varied subjects to create new connections and apply them to the work that you do. For Maria, Brain Pickings is a labor of love, and a daily journey of discovery.

“It is, above all, a self-education gateway for me.” says Maria “The things I’ve learned in the six years of doing this—through the books I’ve read and research I’ve done and the general whimsy of discovery that happens when you dive into the rabbit hole of information—far exceeds anything formal education could offer.”

On WordPress since 2007, Maria first found out about VaultPress through her studiomate, Tina Roth Eisenberg. Tina is known for her awesome design blog swissmiss.com and the international workshop series Creative Mornings, among other projects.

If she wasn’t already pouring over 450 hours each month into Brain Pickings, Maria says that she’d be running some other manifestation of cross-disciplinary curiosity.